With today's technology, somebody's always watching

Been to the Jersey Shore lately? Vacationers plunk down a grand or two for a weekly rental, lather up with sunblock, plop into their beach chairs, dig their toes into the sand, gaze out at the water ... and start texting. Or e-mailing.

No wonder surveys show that, even on vacation, many people feel stressed out.

We’d like to tell work to “leave a message after the tan,” but companies issued those Blackberries so our bosses could find us 24/7/365. (Besides, who’s ignoring calls from their superiors in this economy?)

Oh, and how was that drive to Long Beach Island now that red-light cameras have turned a state of angry drivers into a state of angry, jittery, paranoid ones? Not long ago, you could get away with being a little (unintentionally) late on a traffic light. You could roll (s-l-o-w-l-y) through a right-on-red.

Those tiny victories — like two candy bars falling out of a vending machine — made life bearable. Now? Fuhgeddaboudit.

At any given time, thanks to the intended and unintended spying of technology, Big Brother knows who you are, where you are, who you’re with, what you’re buying, what you like and your relationship status. (He probably knows who wrote this editorial, too.)

And it’s only going to get worse.

The latest ruling from a state appellate court says your spouse can stick a GPS unit in your car and track you, and it’s not an invasion of privacy.

Judges ruled against a divorcing Gloucester County man who was clever enough to elude a tailing private eye, but not smart enough to notice a tracking device in the glove compartment. Of course, if that hadn’t worked, maybe the E-ZPass tag would have provided evidence.

Geez, now cheating is nearly impossible.

Yeah, we know, we know: We’re not encouraging or condoning infidelity. We’re just sayin’ ...